Game 1: Dallas at LA Lakers (May 2)
For the first time since 1988, Dallas faced the Lakers in the playoffs.
The Lakers jumped out to a 7-2 lead with 9:30 left, with all 7 points by
Kobe Bryant, but the game would stay close (with the Lakers still holding
a small lead) as Dallas got their offense going. A jumper by Bryant gave
the Lakers their largest lead at 18-12 with 4:30 remaining, but Peja
Stojakovic answered with a 3-pointer, Bryant hit 1-2 FT, Jason Kidd
drained a 3-pointer, and Jason Terry nailed a 3-pointer to give Dallas
their first lead at 21-19 with 3 minutes left. But Dallas' lead would get
no larger than 4 points as the game remained close. Dallas led 25-23
after 1. Dallas shot 11-23 FG including 3-7 3-pointers and the Lakers
shot 9-23 FG including 2-5 3-pointers. Dallas didn't get to the line once
as no fouls were called on the Lakers and the Lakers shot 3-4 FT. Bryant
had 10 points.
After a layup by Lamar Odom, Dallas went on a 7-2 mini-run to retain the
lead at 32-27 with 9:45 to go and Dallas would hold a small lead over the
next 7 minutes. But 5 points would be Dallas' largest lead of the game.
Dallas led by 42-39 with 2:30 left and the Mavs lost focus and the Lakers
scored the next 10 points to take a 49-42 lead with 18 seconds left. Dirk
Nowitzki finally ended the run with a jumper with 3 seconds left, but
Terry stupidly fouled Pau Gasol behind the halfcourt line and the ref
correctly gave Gasol 3 free throws with .7 seconds left. And then as the
3rd free throw went through, Nowitzki felt Ron Artest was being to
physical and Nowitzki gave Artest an elbow shove and the ref saw it and
gave Nowitzki a technical. So 4 Laker free throws with .7 seconds left in
the 2nd quarter gave the Lakers a 53-44 lead at the half. The Lakers
out-scored Dallas 30-19 in the 2nd quarter as the Lakers shot 11-19 FG and
8-9 FT while Dallas shot 7-19 FG and 4-4 FT. The Lakers also
out-rebounded Dallas 12-6 in the quarter, with Dallas not having an
offensive rebound despite their 12 misses.
Dallas opened the 3rd quarter with 3 straight turnovers (after having just
4 total in the 1st half) and the Lakers scored the first 7 points of the
quarter, capped by a 3-pointer by Bryant, to take their largest lead at
60-44 with 10:40 left. After Dallas missed on 2 attempts (with 2 rare in
this game Dallas offensive rebounds), Nowitzki converted a 3-point play to
kick off a 17-3 Dallas run to get Dallas back in the game at 61-64 with
5:20 to go - Corey Brewer was inserted just prior to the run and his youth
and energy helped Dallas get back in the game including nailing a
3-pointer at the end of the run. A jumper and 3-pointer by Bryant (as he
scored 7 straight Laker points) gave the Lakers a 71-64 lead with 3
minutes remaining. The Lakers led 78-71 after 3. Despite Dallas' poor
start to the quarter, Dallas out-scored the Lakers 27-25 in the 3rd
quarter. Dallas was white hot in shooting 11-18 FG including 3-4
3-pointers - Dallas had an assist on all but 1 of their field goals in
the quarter. Portland shot 9-20 FG including 3-7 3-pointers. Dallas got
control of their rebounding problems and out-rebounded the Lakers 12-6
including 3-2 offensive. But Dallas did have a turnover problem with 7
turnovers in the quarter on which the Lakers scored 10 points. Bryant
had 15 points including 3-4 3-pointers in the 3rd.
Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 4th quarter as the Lakers missed
their first 4 shots, but the Lakers continued to hold a small lead.
Dallas pulled within 1 point 4 times over the next 4 minutes. The Lakers
led 86-85 with 6:25 left and Bryant hit a jumper and Gasol got a layup.
The teams traded just 2 points over the next 2 minutes and the Lakers led
92-87 with 3:30 remaining. Kidd found Tyson Chandler for the lob pass and
the teams traded misses and there was 2 minutes left. Chandler blocked
Gasol's short fade away attempt with 1:40 to go and Shawn Marion got the
short shot to go late in the shot clock to pull Dallas within 91-92 with
1:20 left. The Lakers put the ball in Bryant's hands and he hit the short
jumper with a minute remaining. Dallas put the ball in Nowitzki's hands
and he shouldered his way in and nailed the short jumper with 40 seconds
to go. The Lakers again put the ball in Bryant's hands and he drove and
kicked as 3 players converged on him, but Terry intercepted the pass and
the Lakers committed a foul (their 4th team foul). Dallas called timeout
with 20 seconds left. On the inbounds pass, Gasol was over-aggressive and
ran in to Nowitzki and the ref called the foul. Nowitzki hit both to give
Dallas a 95-94 lead and the Lakers called timeout. The Lakers setup their
play, taking several seconds, and Kidd intentionally committed a foul -
it was one Dallas had to give. The Lakers inbounded the ball to Gasol
and, as Bryant curled around Gasol, Bryant knocked the ball out of Gasol's
hands and Kidd grabbed the loose ball and was fouled. Kidd missed the
first free throw but did hit the 2nd with 3 seconds left. After another
Laker timeout, Bryant actually got a good look at a 3-pointer, but it was
a tad long and bounced off the back left edge of the rim and then Terry
swatted the rebound and time expired. Dallas won 96-94. Dallas leads the
series 1-0.
Dallas did wanted they want to do and took a game in LA and now have
homecourt advantage. The team needs to be greedy and try to take another
game in LA, but the Lakers are sure to put out a tough game for Game 2.
This was an up-and-down-and-up game for Dallas. They slumped terribly
late in the 2nd quarter (with a miserable end to the half) and it carried
over into the 3rd quarter, but the Mavs got back in the game later in the
3rd quarter and it was a real battle in the 4th. The Mavs made all the
right plays down the stretch and the Lakers helped out with some
boneheaded plays. Dallas out-scored the Lakers 25-16 in the 4th as the
Lakers shot just 7-22 FG including 0-6 3-pointers. After the sloppy 3rd,
Dallas had no turnovers in the 4th - the Lakers had just 2 turnovers in
the 4th, but the both came at critical times at the end of the game.
Dallas' largest lead in the 2nd half was just 2 points, but that was all
they needed for the win. For the game, Dallas shot 49.4% (39-79) FG
including 9-20 3-pointers and the Lakers shot 42.9% (36-84) FG including
5-19 3-pointers. The refs let the players play and were fairly consistent
with the non-calls [I had no problem with the officiating and thought they
actually deserved a good note with their consistency]. In fact, they blew
their whistles so few times that the Lakers set an opponent playoff record
with just 12 fouls (the old record was 15). Dallas shot 9-11 FT and the
Lakers shot 17-20 FT, with both teams having 7 attempts in the 2nd half.
The Lakers did out-rebound Dallas 44-40 and Dallas won despite having a
mere 5 offensive boards [recall in Game 5 where Dallas had 20] while the
Lakers had 11 offensive rebounds. The Lakers had 21 assists and Dallas
had a true team game with 30 assists - that meant that all but 9 of their
made field goals came off a pass.
Dirk Nowitzki was great throughout and had a double-double with 28 points
and 14 rebounds. 11 of his points came in the 4th quarter. Jason Terry
had a key steal late in the game and chipped in 15 points (though only 2
came in the 2nd half). Jason Kidd was the defender on Kobe Bryant down
the stretch and helped cause the Gasol-Bryant turnover with 3 seconds left
[he only defended Bryant late in the game as Rick Carlisle said it just
takes too much energy to guard Bryant all the time and the team needs Kidd
to do so many other things]. Kidd had 7 points including 2-3 FG, 5
rebounds, 11 assists, and 3 steals, but he did turn the ball over 5 times.
Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood did a good job of containing Andrew
Bynum (who had just 8 points and 5 rebounds). Chandler had 11 points, 9
rebounds, and 3 blocks in 35 minutes - amazingly he did not get into foul
trouble (always a good thing for Dallas). Haywood hit his only shot and
didn't have a rebound in 13 minutes. Starter DeShawn Stevenson missed 3
shots and only played 10 minutes - and just 1 1/2 in the 2nd half. Peja
Stojakovic provided a boost with 10 points, including 5 in the 4th
quarter. J.J. Barea had 8 points and 5 assists in 14 minutes. Coach
elected to active Corey Brewer (putting the uninjured Roddy Beaubois on
IL) and went to him with Dallas' struggles in the 3rd. And it worked as
Brewer provided the spark that got Dallas back in the game. All 8:20 of
Brewer's minutes came in the 3rd quarter and he had 5 points, a rebound,
an assists, and a steal.
Kobe Bryant was stellar for the Lakers. There were a number of times
where you just knew that he was going to keep the ball and put up a shot
and he did so no matter the defense. And all Mavs fans probably went
"Phew!" when his game ending 3-pointer missed. But he did have a hand in
both Laker turnovers at the end of the game. Bryant had 36 points
including 4-9 3-pointers and 5 rebounds (and no assists to go with his 29
field goals attempted). Lamar Odom had a double-double off the bench with
15 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes. Pau Gasol was the only other
Laker in double-digits with 15 points. He also had 11 rebounds including
5 offensive, and 7 assists. Derek Fisher had 8 points and 6 assists.
Andrew Bynum had just 8 points and 5 rebounds in 29 minutes. Ron Artest
couldn't find his shot in shooting 1-8 FG including 0-3 3-pointers and had
3 rebounds and 4 assists in 31 minutes. He also had 3 steals. Shannon
Brown did have 6 points and 2 steals in 14 minutes, but I didn't think he
played a smart game. On one play, the Lakers got the switch they wanted
with Chandler on Brown and Terry on Gasol, but instead of even trying to
get the ball to Gasol in post, Brown jacked up (and missed) a dumb shot
(with plenty of time of the clock). Matt Barnes had 4 points on 2-6 FG
and 5 rebounds in 16 minutes and Steve Blake missed his only shot and had
a rebound and an assist for his only stats in 17 minutes.
Quotes
Rick Carlisle: "We've been battling all year. The NBA games are long, 48
minutes is a long time. Still had a quarter and a half left, basically.
I thought Brewer going in to the game gave us a lot of energy. He ran the
floor, he hit a couple of shots, he got deflections, he got his hands on
balls, made things happen. And, you know, we hung around. And sometimes
that's what it's about. And we made some plays at the end."
Carlisle: "The guys earned it. They really stuck together, kept
believing, and they earned it."
Carlisle on the end of the 1st half: "The last 10 seconds of the 1st half
were things that may never happen to this team again - ever! So we needed
to forget about that. What we needed to concentrate on the fact we had
given up 5 offensive rebounds, that we'd been blown by 6 or 7 times,
particularly late in the shot clock. We said one of the keys to the
series was to be persistent and play out possessions, and that's what
pissed me off about it. That was the reality of our situation."
Carlisle on the Lakers' defense: "The best thing to do is get stops and
run and space the floor and play out of our flow game. We have veteran
guys that understand the game. We try to play with as few play calls as
possible. It facilitates better when you're getting stops. If you allow
them to set their defense, they're murder to play against because they're
big, they're strong, they take away sections of the floor, and their
experience."
Carlisle: "You've got to make plays and you've got to dodge some bullets.
We did both."
Dirk Nowitzki: "I thought we started the 3rd quarter really sloppy, made
mistake after mistake, turned the ball over. And obviously a veteran team
like that is going to make you pay. Kobe was unbelievable for them, on
fire from everywhere. We did a good job of staying in there. We talking
about it in the huddle - stay with it, keep plugging, get some stops
finally. I thought down the stretched we executed really well."
Nowitzki on the bench: "Stojakovic made some shots today. Brewer,
actually hasn't been in the rotation, comes out from no where, stays ready
to play, and gives us a big boost. And Haywood battling in the paint."
Nowitzki: "I thought we did a great job of hanging there. We felt like we
had a bad start to the 3rd quarter, turned the ball over 3 or 4 times in a
row. Kobe got hot in the 3rd. It wasn't looking good. We talked about
it in the huddle, just stick with it and try to get some stops and not
turn the ball over - just get a shot up every time and give ourselves at
least a chance to make it because if you turn the ball over it puts them
in transition and we had a tough time matching up out of transition and
Kobe had some good looks. So we had to stop turning the ball over and
get some stops. Obviously, in the 4th quarter we only gave up 16 points -
I think that's big. JKidd tried to keep the ball out of Kobe's hands and
everyone else scrambling around. It was fun to watch."
Nowitzki: "It's definitely a great win for us, but if you look at their
last series, they lost Game 1 and came right back and won the next 2 and
had the series back in control. We'd love to go for it in Game 2."
Jason Terry: "Obviously, it gives us confidence, and I'm anxious to see
the film. When you're in a new series and the first time we're facing
these guys in a series, you want to get back and watch what you did on
film to really see what it was like. But I'm pretty sure we didn't play
our best game, and I'm looking forward to the next one."
Tyson Chandler on the win: "I think it says a lot about us and our
character of this team. This is not the same old Mavs where you'd beat
them up and we'd give up, and you get aggressive and they back down.
This is a different team, different squad, different players, different
looks, and hopefully we'll get a different outcome."
Chandler on Bryant's last 3-point attempt: "It's one of those things where
you hold your breath. I grew up in LA, and I've seen that too many
times."
Shawn Marion: "We did well, but I think we can do better. Is there
anybody that knows we play good D?"
Marion: "We just kept hounding them and hounding them and hounding them
and staying aggressive. Once you knew it we were right back in the game.
We were able to keep our composure and stay after it and get a win. It
says a lot."
Phil Jackson: "We went into the locker room and felt like we gave the game
away. I'm not so sure Dallas didn't out-play us, but the players felt
like we gave it away. A couple of misplays on the offensive end and the
foul at the end put them on the line - makes it difficult to play these
kinds of games."
Jackson on Bryant: "He had the hot hand. We were just going to go to
him."
Jackson: "The game was won in the 3rd quarter when we got the lead and
stopped playing defense and stopped playing offense, basically. Just took
open shoots and didn't move the ball, didn't work the ball around. And
all of the sudden they're back in the game, a 3 point ball game. It took
a lot of energy out of us, put a lot of energy in to them for them to come
back and do that, so that showed a lot of heart on their part to be able
to do that. They changed the tempo of the game, they had run-outs, got
some turnovers and made us pay for it."
Jackson: "We stopped executing our offense. We started shooting from the
outside, they were open but we weren't making them."
Jackson: "We didn't play the ball game the right way. We let them back
in, and you just don't that to a good basketball club."
Kobe Bryant on the Lakers' execution down the stretch: "It wasn't very
good. We turned the ball over a couple of times - I had a turnover, Pau
had a turnover. We just didn't execute well."
Bryant: "We blew a lot of coverages, a lot of coverages. Gave a lot of
shooters open looks that they missed, but then they knocked down and got
them back in the game. We got to shore up that part of our defense."
Bryant: "We just made mistakes. The speed of the ball, how quickly it
moved, obviously gave them a little edge. We gave Peja some open 3s that
we shouldn't have. Brewer 3 in the corner that we should have rotated to.
Little things like that that we got to shore up."
Bryant on his turnover with 21 seconds left: "I saw Jason [Terry]
trailing, saw him coming over to double. Made the assumption that he was
still following me, so I thought I had Fish sitting wide open. But he
broke it off and cut the passing lane, so it was a good read by him."
Andrew Bynum: "I know we got that crazy last minute there, but we've got
to come out in the 2nd half and play better. We didn't lose it at the
end. We lost it in the 3rd quarter."
Bynum: "Definitely we gave up a lot of buckets because they spread the
floor. We just got beat on both sides."
Bynum: "I felt like I wasn't aggressive at all, getting in low-post
position, nothing. I kept letting them hit me first."
2011 Playoffs - Second Round: Game 1
Dallas Mavericks 96, Los Angeles Lakers 94 at LA (May 2)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Dallas 25 19 27 25 - 96 .508 .450 .494 .818
LA Lakers 23 30 25 16 - 94 .477 .263 .429 .850
Halftime: LA Lakers 53-44
3rd Q: LA Lakers 78-71
Technicals: Tyson Chandler 1:30 2nd, Pau Gasol (LAL) 1:30 2nd, Dirk
Nowitzki 0:01 2nd
Refs: Bob Delaney, Steve Javie, Michael Smith
Attendance: 18,997 (sellout)
IL:
Dallas - Caron Butler, Dominique Jones, Rodrigue Beaubois
LA Lakers - Derrick Caracter, Devin Ebanks, Theo Ratliff
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Shawn Marion 34 5-13 0-0 0-0 10 2-4 4 2 1 1 1
Dirk Nowitzki 38 11-22 1-2 5-5 28 1-14 3 1 1 2 1
Tyson Chandler 35 5-8 0-0 1-2 11 1-9 1 0 2 0 3
DeShawn Stevenson 10 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 1 2 1 0 0
Jason Kidd 34 2-4 2-3 1-2 7 1-5 11 5 2 3 1
Peja Stojakovic 24 4-8 2-3 0-0 10 0-2 0 0 1 0 0
Jason Terry 30 6-10 1-4 2-2 15 0-3 4 1 2 1 1
Brendan Haywood 13 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 4 0 1
J.J. Barea 14 3-6 2-4 0-0 8 0-2 5 0 1 0 0
Corey Brewer 8 2-4 1-2 0-0 5 0-1 1 0 2 1 0
Totals 48 39-79 9-20 9-11 96 5-40 30 11 17 8 8
Los Angeles Lakers REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Ron Artest 31 1-8 0-3 0-0 2 1-3 4 1 0 3 1
Pau Gasol 36 5-10 0-0 5-6 15 5-11 7 3 3 0 1
Andrew Bynum 29 3-8 0-0 2-2 8 0-5 1 0 1 0 1
Kobe Bryant 35 14-29 4-9 4-5 36 0-5 0 3 2 1 1
Derek Fisher 31 3-6 1-2 1-1 8 0-1 6 0 3 2 1
Lamar Odom 31 5-10 0-1 5-5 15 3-12 2 1 1 0 1
Steve Blake 17 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 1 0
Shannon Brown 14 3-6 0-2 0-1 6 0-1 0 2 0 2 1
Matt Barnes 16 2-6 0-1 0-0 4 2-5 1 1 2 0 1
Totals 48 36-84 5-19 17-20 94 11-44 21 11 12 9 8
Go Mavs!
patricia
----
Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com
For Trianglons puzzles: http://www.trianglons.com
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